GEAR REVIEW
WALRUS CANVAS VOLUME | Mitch Bohannon
KEY FEATURES
• Customizable taper
• Up to + 9dB boost
• Lag control
• Digitally controlled
• Rugged construction
I love new gear! Guitar, Bass, Pro Audio, Keys, all of it! I get excited when I see a company drop a hint that they have something coming out. Every 4th quarter, I start watching for announcements about things that will be coming out in time for the Winter NAMM show.
It’ s really cool when I get to see a level of excitement about a new product from the company guys just like I witnessed from the Walrus folks this last NAMM show. An ad can be colorful and full of positive words and a normal face-to-face is often,“ Hey check out our new such and such.” No, not with these guys. I believe the entire Walrus team had the opportunity to speak into this new Canvas Volume Pedal and they were all equally jazzed about it.
A volume pedal is a volume pedal, right? Customizable? Why? Press down, make sound … pull back, mute. Isn’ t that how they work?
The customization and multi-instrument usability were the two biggest things that came up with each of the guys I visited with at NAMM. They are really trying to think about everybody who needs a VP and how each player may want to use it including where they would place it. They spoke into everything from the construction to the taper of the sweep to the placement of the 1 / 4” jacks.
With a perfectly-sized, metal housing, the Canvas Volume has no strings, gears, chains, or knobs so it’ s not subject to common mechanical failures. The Canvas Volume boasts a full analog signal path with digitally controlled analog VCAs. You can set a“ Minimum ON Volume” with an adjustable gain setting that includes up to a + 9dB boost. You are able to adjust the lag / response time which can delay the response of the pedal actually creating an auto-swell. The I / O jacks being on the side make the pedal more conducive for pedal steel players. Input options are stereo in / out or mono in with dual mono out or mono / tuner out.
There are eight programmed sweep models. Sweep models? Just like we have digitally modeled amplifiers and microphones, the Walrus guys have modeled other volume pedal tapers so you can select the one that best fits your playing style. Basically, name a pedal you’ ve owned or wanted to own and there is a model for it.
Speaking of playing style, does your style ever change? Do you play lead one Sunday and rhythm the next? Do you have one song that you play slide on? Possibly you prefer one setting for lead, another for rhythm, and yet another for when you play slide. One pedal that can handle the nuances of your style change over buying and swapping out volume pedals can be a game-changer.
I’ ve had the opportunity to sit and play with this pedal for a bit now and I can see many benefits whether you’ re playing electric or acoustic. This would be a perfect volume pedal to add to my board. Making adjustments with the taper, minimum volume, gain, and lag are truly a breeze. My first thought was that it would take
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